W.A.I.S.T. (February 15-17)

cavemen 12, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

WAIST is the West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament, and this year marks its 35th year. Dakar was host to 28 teams from around West Africa, including four teams from Dakar Academy. The DA teams all did very well, and Jacob and Dave each got some good playing time and a bit of a sunburn.

The international flavor was evident this year with three Senegalese teams, as well as teams from Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, and Gambia.

Click here to enjoy the complete photo-set on flickr!


And here is a video clip of the fans celebrating, to give you a feeling for the vibrancy and international flavor of the event!

Happy Birthday, Joey!!

Happy Birthday, Joey!!, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

Happy twentieth birthday to an awesome son! We are thankful for you, and the amazing man that you are! We see so much evidence of God's good work in your life, and we are excited to see where He will take you in the days ahead! With lots of love from Mom and Dad!

heron

heron, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

We are blessed to have a park about a mile from our house, where we can walk under tall trees and enjoy the birds which congregate here. This was one of my favorite pictures from our walk today, and here's a link to the other 13!

February 7: Decker Update

Dear friends,

It hardly seems possible we arrived here in Dakar a week ago! We completed our packing in time to get a few hours of sleep before we left Minnesota on the 29th. Friends from our support team helped us get our things to the airport, and saw us off with love and prayers-- even though it was 5 a.m. and very cold!

February 2: evening sight

evening sight, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

We are here, in Senegal! Dave and I drove to a spot near the ocean, and I thought it was funny to see these cows grazing right there! We are unpacking and sorting and cleaning... recovering from jet lag, and happy to be back here! We've connected with many friends and colleagues so far. More of an update will be coming soon, but this is just so you will see that we are here!